Frank Maloney sex change: Boxing legend now living as a woman - Mirror Online Watch Next For three decades, hard-nosed Frank Maloney ruled as one of the kings of the macho world of boxing . The tough-talking promoter and manager guided Lennox Lewis to become Britain’s first undisputed World Heavyweight Champ for nearly a century. Millions watched as he celebrated in the ring with the boxer after his 1992 triumph. He became a household name. But outside the ropes, Frank was embroiled in a secret, agonising fight of his own – one he feared he could never win, let alone share with the world. Until now. Because today, through the Sunday Mirror, Frank, 61, reveals he is preparing to change sex and is living as a woman called Kellie. For live reaction to this story, click here . New look: She says changing to Kellie was the right move (Photo: Sunday Mirror) In an astonishing emotional interview, she tells how she has felt trapped in the wrong body since she was a child and how she finally made her courageous decision to become a woman.

The twice-married dad of three also reveals the anguish of breaking the bombshell news to his second wife – and the fears of a backlash from the testosterone-fuelled boxing world Frank left behind when he retired last year. But in the end, for Kellie, living as a woman has become a matter of life or death. “I was born in the wrong body and I have always known I was a woman,” she says, her voice cracking with emotion. “I can’t keep living in the shadows, that is why I am doing what I am today. Living with the burden any longer would have killed me.” JEALOUS “What was wrong at birth is now being medically corrected. I have a female brain. I knew I was different from the minute I could compare myself to other children. I wasn’t in the right body. I was jealous of girls.” Londoner Kellie is now over a year into the transition period as she learns to cope living as a woman – a life she has kept under wraps because of the macho world she moved in. In the past two years she has secretly undergone hormone therapy, hundreds of hours of hair removal electrolysis, voice coaching and specialist counselling.

NHS guidelines state a transsexual must spend two years as a female before they are permitted to undergo corrective surgery. “The feeling of wanting to be like and dress like a woman has always been there,” she says. “I consciously made the decision that I wouldn’t dress like a woman but it was a constant urge. “But I have never been able to tell anyone in boxing,” adds the person who made the careers of British,Commonwealth and European boxing champs, including former world ­cruiserweight title holder David Haye. “Can you imagine me walking into a boxing hall dressed as a woman and putting an event on? “I can imagine what they would scream at me. But if I had been in the theatre or arts world nobody would blink an eye about this transition.” Fame: Frank with world heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis (Photo: Action Images) Today Kellie has become the highest profile figure ever from the world of sport to go public about having gender reassignment therapy. But for more than a year as her desire to become a woman overwhelmed her, she lived as a virtual recluse, wrestling with her emotions on a daily basis. During her darkest hours she would phone helplines in America for counselling.

Her harrowing ordeal also sparked crippling bouts of depression and heavy drinking. She says: “My life was spiralling out of control. I was finding it harder to contain my desire. I was now doing the boxing ­business through instinct and memory. I used to shut myself away in the office. Thankfully, I had some good staff around me. “But I was very unhappy. My temper was getting worse. I was determined it wouldn’t beat me, but I knew it would always be there. “I remember having a row with a counsellor I was secretly talking to. All that I wanted him to say was that I wasn’t transsexual. He said ‘I can’t tell you that.’ I said ‘well how do you know I’m transsexual?’ and he said ‘because you keep ringing’. I checked myself into a private clinic where they dealt with drug, alcohol and depression issues. They were very good to me. “They didn’t use a lot of medical advice. I only told them I was suffering. I didn’t tell them why. I couldn’t.

The way I looked at it was that I would either beat it or kill myself.” But deep inside, Kellie – who had managed Lennox Lewis from 1989 to 2001 – realised she had to get away from the world she knew and face the truth. Joy: But Frank faced gender hell outside the ring (Photo: Reuters) She ended her glittering career as Frank in October last year and told a shocked press conference: “I have fallen out of love with boxing. The sport has changed so much. “So many boxers listen to the last person they meet and trainers who give time but invest no money are afforded too much power. My passion has been missing, my heart is no longer in the sport I loved so much.” But Kellie now admits she was secretly preparing to retreat from the public eye for her gender transition. She said: “I made the decision a long time ago but I retired from boxing because of my profile. I thought that what I wanted to do was to transition in a positive and private way. I closed my websites down, took my Facebook down and my Twitter account so that I could transition peacefully.

The suicide rates from the pressure on a transsexual woman are very high and I didn’t want to get caught up in it. “The boxing community can think whatever they want about me now. I have come to terms with my transition but I don’t understand it. “I hope society will be open minded. I know I could have done my job in boxing as a female.” Kellie now even believes promoting fights in the glitzy world of big time boxing allowed her feminine flamboyant side to come out – and she hoped the money she earned would help her to truly be herself one day. Flamboyant: Outrageous gear helped with his urges (Photo: Action Images) She says: “I did all the Union Jack costume and the stunts because I was always prepared for the fact that the Lennox Lewis era was going to come to an end one day. “It was an act and I was on stage. It allowed me to be outrageous. I knew it wasn’t going to last forever. I can never deny what I have achieved and I look back and I think how I was the only man to manage a British heavyweight champion.

“In the late 1990s I always thought I had a chance with Lennox Lewis to earn enough money to live a ­comfortable life, to go away and be myself. There was already part of me that was thinking of transitioning. That part of me wanted to do it.” Kellie insists she has no intention of looking for a relationship in her new life. She says: “At this very moment I am preparing to live the rest of my life as a single person. I have no interest in physical sex with anybody. I have many more issues that I have to deal with and I don’t know what will happen down the road. “I’ve lived with this all my life and I don’t understand it. Therefore I can’t expect anybody else to understand it,” she adds tearfully. “But I want to go out there and help others going through this.

For now, I am mentally preparing myself for the rest of my life.” Most Read Most Recent Most Read Most Recent Frank Maloney: ‘I was born in the wrong body and have always known I was a woman’ | The Independent Frank Maloney: ‘I was born in the wrong body and have always known I was a woman’ Once-pugnacious manager of Lennox Lewis stuns boxing world with sex change revelation Sunday 10 August 2014 19:00 BST Click to follow The Independent Online After 30 years in the macho world of boxing, the former fight promoter Frank Maloney has revealed that he is undergoing a sex change and living as a woman called Kellie. Kellie, 61, once the pugnacious manager of the former world heavyweight boxing champion Lennox Lewis, said that she has undergone hormone therapy and is now more than a year into the transition to becoming a woman. “I was born in the wrong body and have always known I was a woman,” she said. “I have a female brain. I knew I was different from the minute I could compare myself to others.

Lennox Lewis: 'I thought it was a wind-up' “I never felt comfortable doing boys’ things, playing boys’ games. But I buried myself in them to make sure I wasn’t seen as different.” Frank Maloney grew up as a Millwall-supporting south Londoner, became a boxer and then a trainer, and achieved greatest success while working with Lewis, who became a world champion in 1992. Having also managed the former world cruiserweight champion David Haye, Maloney appeared fearless, tough-talking and flamboyant, with a fondness for going to fights in Union Jack suits. But Kellie, who gave her interview to the Sunday Mirror wearing a dress and stilettos, said she was constantly fighting the urge to dress as a woman. “Mentally I was tearing myself apart. “I knew it was either continue and succeed, throw myself off a bridge or give into my urges and be ridiculed.” She admitted that she had spent years fearing her secret desire to be a woman would be exposed. “I have never been able to tell anyone in boxing. Can you imagine me walking into a boxing hall dressed as a woman and putting an event on? I can imagine what they would scream at me.

But if I had been in the theatre or arts world, nobody would blink an eye about this transition.” The twice-married father of three quit as a boxing promoter last October, saying he had “fallen out of love with boxing” . She admits now that she was preparing to withdraw from the public gaze so she could continue with a gender transition that had begun in her final year of managing boxers. In the past two years, she has had hormone therapy, hair removal electrolysis, voice coaching and counselling. She told her wife Tracey about her desire to become a woman in 2012. “We were standing in the kitchen and I said, ‘I have to tell you that I have lived with this all my life. I’ve lived a lie and I really am a female in my head.’ “We are very good friends now. She is very supportive and very loyal to me.” Kellie said she was amazed by the supportive response of her elderly mother Maureen. She added: “I hope society will be open-minded.

I know I could have done my job in boxing as a female.” Comment: As brave – and mad – as some of his fighters By Steve Bunce, Boxing Correspondent Frank Maloney loved a fight on both sides of the ropes, and in 50 years in the boxing world he had plenty. He won most of them. He now has one more battle to overcome after announcing that he is undergoing a sex change. He walked away from the boxing business last October and vanished, until he emerged yesterday on the front page of a paper with a new hairstyle, a new name and a gentler voice. Kellie looks much better than Frank did, to tell the truth. It has been a terrible five years for Maloney, with heart attacks, separation from his beloved second wife, a suicide attempt, the death of his father and the discovery of arguably his last great fighter, Darren Sutherland, hanged in a south London bedsit in 2009. Maloney was the first person through the door and has never recovered.

Maloney overcame each terrible setback and problem with the same determination that had seen him go head-to-head with Don King and boxing’s other powerbrokers during his 15 years with Lennox Lewis; the pair went from virtual obscurity to the heavyweight world title on their terms in one of boxing’s greatest partnerships. Over the past 25 years, I have been in a dozen boxing outposts with Maloney, some exotic and some diabolical, and the revelation was shocking. It had some of the usual Maloney flourishes, and as I read it I had to smile. I sent Kellie a text to tell her that she was brave. “It could be plain mad,” she replied, which is true, and the old Frank never much cared for rules or what people thought about him. There had been rumours back in June, but nobody believed it. Maloney, you see, was a veteran and an expert in the brutal business of boxing. The old Maloney was a throwback, operating at all levels from running pubs with boxing gyms above the bars to guiding fighters to world titles and riches.

He was at the centre of a savage, macho world and he seldom put a foot wrong – now we know he was talking to a counsellor and buying women’s clobber. Maloney managed and trained some stupidly brave fighters, men who took terrible risks in a fearless business, and yesterday morning the trainee priest, apprentice jockey, amateur fighter, promoter, publican and manager of fighting men showed that she was their equal. Well done, Kellie. Boxing promoter Frank Maloney reveals he is having a sex change | Daily Mail Online Fight promoter Frank Maloney shocked the world of boxing yesterday by revealing he is undergoing a sex change. Wearing a wig, lipstick, dress and heels, the 61-year-old now lives as a woman called Kellie. The former boxing manager, who guided Lennox Lewis to the world heavyweight title, retired in October – claiming she had fallen out of love with the sport.

Scroll down for video Her greatest fight: Boxing promoter Frank Maloney, who guided fighter Lennox Lewis to the peak of the sport, is now living as a woman called Kellie One of the hardest parts of the decision was telling her second wife and Kellie insists she doesn't want a new relationship and isn't interested in a sexual relationship with anybody But it has now emerged that Maloney walked away to begin preparing for a new life as a woman, revealing yesterday: ‘I can’t keep living in the shadows’. Maloney, who has three daughters from two marriages, is now more than a year into the transition period, learning to live as a different gender. RELATED ARTICLES Share this article Share Under NHS guidelines, transsexuals have to live as a woman for two years before they are allowed corrective surgery. So far the process has involved secret hormone therapy, hours of hair removal electrolysis, voice coaching and counselling. Speaking to the Sunday Mirror, Maloney said: ‘I wasn’t born into the right body, I have always known I was a woman.

Turmoil: The 61-year-old admits the pressure and confusion caused by her struggles with her identity caused battles with drink, depression and drugs Out and about: Pictured, the 61-year-old former promoter in June Kellie says she kept her turmoil in the shadows because she feared a backlash from the notoriously macho world of boxing. Top of their game: Frank Maloney (in Union Flag suit), right, with WBC World Heavyweight Champ Lennox Lewis, left, in Atlantic City in October 1997 Living a lie: Maloney (left, as a man in 1998) admitted she has felt trapped in a man's body since she was a child. Right, Lennox Lewis and Maloney in 1989. They would go on to reach the very peak of boxing ‘Living with the burden any longer would have killed me. The feeling of wanting to be like and dress like a woman has always been there.

‘I consciously made the decision that I wouldn’t dress like a woman, but it was a constant urge.’ Maloney, who was known for wearing Union Jack suits, said it would have been impossible to tell anyone in the macho world of boxing – despite making the careers of British Commonwealth and European champions such as cruiserweight title holder David Haye. ‘Can you imagine me walking into a boxing hall dressed as a woman and putting an event on? I can imagine what they would scream at me,’ she revealed. ‘But if they had been in the theatre or arts world nobody would blink an eye about this transition.’ Maloney, who had a box at Millwall football club, described how he told second wife Tracey, 47, about the transition at their home in Chislehurst, south-east London. ‘We were standing in the kitchen and I said, “I have to tell you I have lived with this all my life. I have lived a lie and I really am a female in my head”,’ she said.

The promoters: Don King (right), promoting Evander Holyfield, with Frank Maloney, manager of WBC champion Lennox Lewis in 1998 ‘As the words started to come out I wanted to catch them and pull them back in. I looked at her face and I knew my marriage was over. ‘I went upstairs and I broke down. She came up and I told her I was going to our house abroad. ‘I was not happy when the relationship ended. It had been a security net around me. But it was the first step of me starting life as a woman.’ Maloney insists she doesn’t want a new relationship. Born in Peckham, South London, the former promoter has been politically active in the past. In 2004, Maloney stood as an independent during the London mayoral vote and was the Ukip candidate in Barking, East London, at the 2010 general election. Yesterday, a number of boxers expressed their support.

Former WBO cruiserweight champion Johnny Nelson said: ‘Ignorance is the problem of others, not yours.’ Former welterweight champion Ricky Hatton added: ‘He’s still a top guy, so I don’t care.’ And Lennox Lewis posted on Facebook: ‘This world we live in isn’t always cut and dried or black and white, and coming from the boxing fraternity, I can only imagine what a difficult decision this must be for Kellie.’ Yesterday both Maloney and wife Tracey both declined to comment. IT WON'T BE EASY BUT TRUST ME, THIS IS THE ROAD TO HAPPINESS By JANE FAE Transgender writer and campaigner While many might be shocked by Frank Maloney’s transition into Kellie, it comes as no surprise to me. There’s no rule which says that hairdressers are more likely to be transgender than sporting professionals. If anything, the opposite holds true. There is so much blame and shame about being transgender that many will do all they can to hide it – often taking up careers that exaggerate their birth gender. So men may be more macho and women more feminine. It can make the transition more of a shock to other people, but not to those who have been through it.

For me, that was four years ago. Happily settled with my partner of seven years and two young children, I decided aged 52 that I could no longer live as a man and needed to become ‘Jane’. Support often arrives from unexpected directions. I was working as a science and technology writer, and the atmosphere in the office was laddish. I dreaded returning to work as Jane, but I was surprised and grateful for the nonchalant way my male colleagues reacted. One said of my painted nails ‘the colour doesn’t suit you’, while the rest just got on with work as usual. Friendships endured. Family members were supportive. My partner stood by me. And that’s how it should be. My heart goes out to Kellie. Transition opens the door to public abuse and discrimination – but for some people changing gender is necessary, and my own experience shows it can lead to happiness.

Kellie Maloney's brother on sex change shock: 'I hope we will get Frank back' - Mirror Online News Kellie Maloney's brother on sex change shock: 'I hope we will get Frank back' Eugene and Frank were always inseparable - but the former boxing promoter's decision to become a woman has changed all that Share Get daily updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Could not subscribe, try again laterInvalid Email Video Loading Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8Cancel Play now Watch Next When former boxer Eugene Maloney went to the newsagents for his Sunday paper, nothing could have prepared him for the headlines. Leaping out at him from the front page of the Sunday Mirror was the revelation that Frank Maloney – the brother he’d been so close to, the man who had fathered two children and loved football, sparring and women – was now a transsexual called Kellie. “I was shocked, I began shaking,” said Eugene. “I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. "I went down to buy my Sunday newspaper and there it was, right in front of me – I saw my brother is now living as a woman. “To say I was surprised would be an understatement.

I thought it was a joke – I thought Jeremy Beadle was going to jump out in front of me, laughing.” Reeling: Eugene Maloney is shocked at Kellie's decision (Photo: Sunday Mirror) Eugene, 58, and former boxing promoter Frank, 61, had always been the closest of brothers. They grew up in a strict Catholic household in south London – singing at their local church as altar boys and later sharing the same passion for football and boxing. Eugene also told how they would go out chasing girls together. They have a younger brother, Vincent, but it was Eugene and Frank who were always inseparable. Frank was the one who took him to the pub on his 16th birthday – and got him very drunk. Sparring partners: Frank, left, and Eugene shared their passion for boxing Back home from the newsagents, reeling from what he sees as an ­astonishing betrayal, Eugene ­immediately took down the photographs he had of himself with his brother and destroyed them. “I didn’t know what was going on,” he said. “I got indoors still shaking and I saw the pictures. I cut them up.

I felt too sad to look at them.” Watch Next Her decision to tell all about her new life won huge worldwide support for her bravery. In our interview, which took place shortly before Kellie went into the Celebrity Big Brother house, she revealed that she is currently awaiting a sex-change operation. But Eugene just can’t take it in. “We did everything together,” he said. “Imagine what it’s like when you’ve known someone all your life. "I spent years sharing hotel rooms with him, we would get dressed in front of each other. “There was no inkling at all that he ever seemed like he didn’t want to be a man. It’s unbelievable.” Close: Brothers enjoy friendly chat (Photo: Sunday Mirror) Pain etched across his face, he said: “We shared everything. "We knew everything about one another so when he says he always knew he wasn’t happy being a man, I can’t believe it. “The Frank I knew loved women, he really did. He has been married twice, he had girlfriends from when he was a young teenager.

“He would fly women in from all over the world – Europe, America, Japan – you name it, they would come in to see him.” Eugene said Frank would take them out for romantic dinners. “We would go out to nightclubs and Frank would be all over women – there was never any sign that he wanted to be one though. “I’m baffled, I still think I’m daydreaming. I keep thinking that I might wake up from this dreadful dream. “The memories I have of being out with Frank are that we would go to nightclubs, we would meet ladies and go back with them afterwards. There was no warning that this was going to happen.” New celeb: Frank on Big Brother as Kellie He said the knock-on effect of Kellie’s revelation has been massive – especially to his family. Eugene himself was last week the victim of a vicious attack by three men who asked if he was “that perv’s brother”. He said the men, all in their early 20s, laid into him while he was waiting for a bus in Bexleyheath, south London. Eugene was left bruised and battered after being punched to the floor.

He said it was terrifying – even for a former boxer. “I was standing there minding my own business when a man came along and asked me if I was that perv’s brother,” he said. “I knew what he meant. Then he asked me if I was a perv. I was on my own, I was scared. "Then two of his friends came along and they pushed me to the floor. I’ve got bruises all around my back and my sides. “It hurt. I’m not superman. I was worried about one of my wobbly teeth falling out, so I protected my face and went to the floor. "It was awful. I’m still in so much pain.” New life: Kellie (Photo: Sunday Mirror) Eugene claims their Irish mother Maureen – who two years ago underwent a triple heart bypass operation – is devastated and deeply shocked by the news too. Kellie told the Sunday Mirror his mum had shown him love and compassion when he came out to her, but also said he’d never have been able to reveal his feelings while his father was alive. However Eugene said: “My mum will always love her three sons, she will. But she’s hurting.

I don’t want to go into exactly what her thoughts are but she is in shock. “It wasn’t something she ever thought would happen, obviously. Why would she think that her 61-year-old son would all of a sudden want to be a woman? “Then in Ireland, I’ve had members of my family ringing me asking if what they’ve read in the newspapers is true. “It has brought shame on our Catholic family. How could he put us through it? "If he wanted to do this, then why not do it in private? Why not tell your family in private but not the world? Why go on the TV and flaunt it? “I’ve got a niece in Australia. She’s the teenage daughter of my brother Vincent and she’s being bullied. "Her work colleagues are asking if her uncle has turned into a woman.” Ringside: Eugene (left) with Frank and champ Lennox Lewis Eugene said he was also offended at Kellie’s comments about God making a mistake by making her a woman, adding: “I’m not a good Catholic boy but I believe in God.

“Frank said, ‘God made a mistake and I rectified it’ – it’s nonsense talk.” Kellie’s ex-wife Tracey, 47 – mother of his two daughters aged 17 and 13 – has also been left devastated. View gallery But she told the Sunday Mirror last week that Kellie was a great father, and now that she’s coming to terms with the situation, she just wants him to be happy. Eugene, however, is still in shock. He is now glued to the TV watching Kellie on Celebrity Big Brother, desperately hoping for signs of the man he’s always known and loved – his own big brother. “I hope this isn’t Kellie for ever,” he said. “I hope and expect that we will get Frank back.

"I refuse to believe that he will ever actually become a woman.” Video Loading Frank Maloney sex change: Boxing promoter now living as woman named Kellie | Metro News Frank Maloney, boxing legend and former promoter of Lennox Lewis, reveals sex change plans Harry Readhead Sunday 10 Aug 2014 10:58 am Frank Maloney is now living as Kellie and is preparing to undergo gender reassignment surgery (Picture: Sunday Mirror) The former promoter of heavyweight boxing champion Lennox Lewis has shocked the sporting world by coming out as transgender. Frank Maloney, 61, stunned boxing fans when he revealed in an exclusive interview with the Sunday Mirror that he is a living as a woman called Kellie – and is preparing to undergo sex reassignment surgery. In a candid interview, Kellie bravely explained how she had always felt she had ‘a female brain’ but was unable to come out because of fears of how the macho world of boxing would respond. ‘I was born in the wrong body and I have always known I was a woman,’ she said. ‘I can’t keep living in the shadows, that is why I am doing what I am today.

Living with the burden any longer would have killed me.’ MORE: Lennox Lewis shows support for former promoter Frank Maloney’s sex change: I respect Kellie’s decision Frank Maloney (left) pictured with Liverpool heavyweight David Price (Picture: PA) The revelation is more surprising after controversial comments about sexual minorities made by Maloney while standing for UKIP in the 2010 General Election. Maloney angered the LGBT community and was branded ‘a dangerous extremist’ when he told the BBC that he would not campaign in Camden because there were ‘too many gays…I don’t think they do a lot for society’. However talking about the anger and denial Kellie felt as Frank may go some way to providing contexts for the outbursts. The announcement took social media by storm. Many users expressed disbelief with some even believing the story was a hoax. Most, however, were quick to tweet messages of support for Kellie, who remains the only Brit to have ever managed an undisputed heavyweight champion. All the best to Kellie, formerly Frank Maloney, in her new life. Great achievements happen in boxing, as elsewhere, irrespective of gender.

Frank Maloney's ex-wife Tracey reveals devastation over transgender secret | Daily Mail Online Share this article Share It later emerged he had been going to a secret flat by the coast, stocked with female clothing. It all came to a head in October 2009 when Maloney called her down to the kitchen at 4am after a blistering row the night before and tearfully admitted: ‘I’m a woman.’ She said he was ‘visibly tortured’ and kept telling her he wanted to kill himself. The 61-year-old says she is amazed by the positive reaction of both the public and the boxing community A 1997 photo of WBC heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis, right, and his promoter Frank Maloney, as they celebrate his victory over Oliver McCall at the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas ‘I was utterly devastated,’ she added. ‘I knew at that moment that he had opened the lid on a box that could never ever be closed again.’ Maloney tried to persuade her to keep the marriage going – but she said ‘in that split second everything changed for ever’. She also spoke of the effect on their two daughters. ‘He is a brilliant father but it’s been devastating for them.

He was their hero,’ she said. The couple tried in vain to rekindle the relationship until Maloney finally moved out of the family home in Kent in 2012. Kellie Maloney seen out walking her dogs in London last week. He said the 'feeling of wanting to be like and dress like a woman has always been there' At Christmas that year, she said emotions were running high and he made a desperate suicide attempt. Mrs Maloney revealed: ‘We were all really distraught and the girls and I wouldn’t go back into the house until he left. My daughter said to me, “you’re doing this to him”. I would rather she thought that than know the truth. I never wanted the children to know the truth.’ Soon afterwards, Maloney started divorce proceedings. ‘I wouldn’t have married him if I’d known he was a woman,’ she said. However, the pair remain friends – although she cannot bring herself to call him by the name Kellie.

Read more: Frank Maloney first boxing appearance as Kellie | UK | News | Daily Express UK Sex-change Kellie's first appearance at boxing bout FORMER boxing manager Frank Maloney wore a blue dress and a blonde wig ringside at the weekend – her first such appearance since announcing she is undergoing a sex change. 00:01, Mon, Aug 18, 2014 The former promoter stepped out in a sophisticated blue dress and a blonde wig [GETTY] The former fight promoter, who guided Lennox Lewis to world heavyweight glory, is now living as a woman called Kellie, The father-of-three, who is tgwice married, was pictured at the IBF Cruiserweight World Championship title fight in Erfurt, Germany, on Saturday night. He’s still a top guy, so I don’t care Former welterweight champion Ricky Hatton Kellie, 61, said she was “overwhelmed” by the positive reaction to her personal story.

Former welterweight champion Ricky Hatton said: “He’s still a top guy, so I don’t care.” Kellie is rumoured to be among the celebrities about to move into the Big Brother house – bookies William Hill makes her odds-on favourite to win. The line-up will be confirmed tonight when the new series begins on Channel 5. Related articles Kellie Maloney shows how times have changed - BBC News BBC News Kellie Maloney shows how times have changed By Tom de Castella BBC News Magazine 12 August 2014 Close share panel Image copyright Getty Images Image caption WW2 fighter pilot Roberta Cowell and model April Ashley were among the first Britons to undergo surgery Two decades ago a boxing promoter deciding to live as a woman might have got a mixed response in the media. But perhaps the most noteworthy aspect of Kellie Maloney, formerly Frank, announcing her new identity, was an almost uniformly positive reaction. "What has been particularly heartening has been the reaction to the news," commented the Daily Mirror . "A few years ago such an announcement would have been met with derision and prejudice.

The response to Kellie has been warmly supportive." The Daily Express's chief sports writer John Dillon wrote: "Frank Maloney was an extraordinary man. Now Kellie will be an extraordinary woman." Maloney's case shows how much society and the media have changed. There was a time when transgender (or trans) people were viewed as freaks by society, says the writer and campaigner Jane Fae. Before the mid-1990s "transgender was up there in the popular imagination with sexual deviants". It explains why she, like Maloney, waited so long to come out as trans. Another phase came in the 2000s when the legal position of trans people began to be questioned, Fae says. "We were winning rights but we were a group of people to be pitied." It is only in the past five years that trans people have started to be treated with respect by society. The 2010 Equality Act, granting equal access to employment as well as private and public services, regardless of gender reassignment, was a milestone. There are many things that trans people still hate about media coverage.

"Dead naming" - referring to someone by their old name - is painful for many trans people, Fae says. "It's almost like a small electric shock if I see my old name in print." Then there's the before-and-after picture. It's something readers may be curious about, but like giving someone's previous name, it is another way that the trans person is trapped by their past. In the early 20th Century, sex changes, as they were then usually known, were so rarely reported that stories evoked amazement rather than moralising.

Lili Elbe Image copyright Wellcome Library, London The first attempt at a modern sex change operation most likely took place in Berlin in the 1930s on a patient known as Lili Elbe Elbe was born as Einar Mogens Wegener and worked under that name as an artist Lived as both a man and a woman with her Danish wife Gerda Wegener in Paris Their marriage was later dissolved after Elbe legally changed her name and sex Elbe died in 1931 after her fifth operation, following complications from ovarian and uterus transplants Medical notes from experiment later helped Danish team to carry out first successful male-to-female sex change in 1952 In the 1930s a number of partial sex change operations were carried out at London's Charing Cross Hospital. There was the case of the female British javelin thrower and shot-putter who became Mark Weston. "Woman Athlete Now a Man!" reported the Sunderland Echo in 1936. The reaction was one of astonishment rather than condemnation.

Although the details of Weston's case are not known, gender historian Geertje Mak, from Radboud University, says many of the 1930s cases involved people who would not be considered trans today. "It's what in the 19th Century were called hermaphrodites [the term intersex is preferred now as hermaphrodite is deemed offensive by many] - people who were raised as female but turned out to have testicles [for example]." Alison Oram, author of Her Husband Was a Woman: Women's Gender-Crossing in Modern British Popular Culture, says that in the 1930s readers of the News of the World and People newspapers became familiar with the idea. "There was a tone of sympathy but also a huge fascination with [the possibilities of] medical science." But in the 1950s as the modern concept of the sex-change operation developed, it seems sympathy began to wane and a tone of censoriousness arrived. It is thought that Lili Elbe was the first to have undergone a modern sex-change operation. She died in 1931 as a result of one of the operations.

Image copyright Getty Images In the early 1950s Christine Jorgensen, an ex-American GI, was one of the first to have a successful sex change operation from man to woman. She had to petition the Danish government to change the law to allow castration. When she returned to the US she was treated with curiosity by media and public , earning a degree of admiration for her glamorous appearance. Roberta Cowell, an RAF pilot in World War Two, also announced she was a woman in the 1950s and was for a time feted in the same way as Jorgensen. But as time went by both were subject to remarks along the lines of "you're not really a woman", says Oram. In the 1960s, former Times journalist James Morris became Jan Morris, today a famous travel writer. Media caption'Sex change was happiest event': April Ashley talks to Colin Paterson in 2013 The press coverage of Morris seems from a modern perspective to have been relatively sympathetic. But a writer with a public school and Oxbridge background may have been treated differently by the newspapers than someone of a lower social status, says Oram.

The same goes for certain professions - the media or military - or people from certain class backgrounds, she adds. But widespread discrimination continued. Michael Dillon, who'd had a sex change during the war from woman to man, was a ship's doctor until he was outed by the Sunday Express in 1958. He gave up his job and went to India. Then there was April Ashley, who had gender reassignment surgery in 1960. She became a successful model and had a role in a film starring Bing Crosby. But when her story became public, she had her film credit removed. In 1970 a judge ruled that her brief marriage to the aristocrat Arthur Cameron Corbett could be made void. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption American Christine Jorgensen - born George - travelled to Denmark for a sex-change operation in 1952 "It was common ground between all the medical witnesses that the biological sexual constitution of an individual was fixed at birth (at the latest) and could not be changed," Mr Justice Ormrod told the court. As the Times reported, the case appeared to be the first time a court in England had been called upon to decide the sex of an individual.

The workplace was still an oppressive place. In 1980, Karen Ulane, a pilot in the US for Eastern Airlines, was dismissed after having gender reassignment surgery. Ulane won the case against Eastern but it was overturned on appeal. As the Maloney story shows, the UK press has become far more sensitive. The Leveson Inquiry gave a platform to campaign group Trans Media Watch to raise awareness about hostile coverage. It pointed out how people were often featured merely for being trans rather than any real news angle. One Sun story began with the line "Burly Nigel Weston has shocked trucker pals by telling them: 'Call me Nikki-Jane.'" Trans Media Watch complained that the subject was referred to as male throughout, that the story used her former name nearly twice as often as Nikki-Jane, and used a before and after photo. And then there is language - the term "burly" is common in such stories, intended to "underline the subject's presumed visual incongruity", the group argued. Image copyright ALAMY But perhaps the biggest jolt to the media was the tragic story of Lucy Meadows, a trans teacher who killed herself in March 2013 following what campaigners termed a "monstering" by the press .

One of her wedding photos ended up in the papers, as did pictures from siblings' Facebook pages. Reporters parked outside her house. One piece in particular, by Daily Mail columnist Richard Littlejohn, was singled out. The article has since been removed from the paper's website. Headlined "He's not only in the wrong body… he's in the wrong job", Littlejohn asked whether anyone had thought of "the devastating effect" on the pupils of what Meadows had done. The coroner at her inquest criticised the media over the "character assassination" and accused the Mail of learning nothing from the Leveson inquiry. Others defended Littlejohn saying his facts were correct whether or not one agreed with his opinions. A Mail spokesman at the time said Mr Littlejohn's column had "emphatically defended the rights of people to have sex change operations but echoed the parents' concerns about whether it was right for children to have to confront complex gender problems at such a vulnerable young age". The reaction may vary according to circumstances. The first Church of England vicar to have a sex change operation, in 2000, received a standing ovation from all but one of the congregation in Upper Stratton, Swindon.

The UK media at least does seem to have changed the way it covers trans issues. But that does not necessarily reflect the whole of society, where outright discrimination and violence still occurs. In some US states there are still battles over "bathroom bills" - fierce debates over whether trans people can use women's toilets. Of course, in much of the world, discrimination and violence is far, far more prevalent. But in media terms at least, the story of Kellie Maloney shows how far understanding of gender change has come since the astonishment of the 1930s. Frank Maloney sex change: 'Telling my wife I'd lived a lie was the hardest thing' - Irish Mirror Online Sport Frank Maloney sex change: 'Telling my wife I'd lived a lie was the hardest thing' World Exclusive: Boxing boss says marriage was already in turmoil because of the hell he was going through as he battled his shame at wanting to be a woman Share Get daily updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again laterInvalid Email Anguished boxing boss Frank Maloney will never forget the look on his devoted wife Tracey’s face the moment he told her his darkest secret.

Their marriage was already in turmoil because of the hell he was going through as he battled his shame at wanting to be a woman. Crippled by depression, Frank had suffered a major heart attack in 2009 as he tried to cope with the stress of hiding his secret desire. His unhappiness was driving a wedge between the couple . His wife thought she was to blame for everything and was worried about his deteriorating health. Then one morning in 2012, he could not bear it any longer. For live reaction, click here . Video Loading Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8Cancel Play now Share this video Watch Next Kellie says: “I couldn’t watch her going through what she was going through. She was trying to keep us together while all the time we were speaking less. “She was blaming herself for the breakdown of our marriage. “One morning it all came out of me. I just said to her ‘The problem with this marriage is not you. The problem with this marriage is me’. “We were standing in the kitchen and I said ‘I have to tell you that I have lived with this all my life.

I’ve lived a lie and I really am a female in my head.’ “As the words started to come out I wanted to catch them and pull them back in. I looked at her face and I knew my marriage was over. She was the first person I had told outside counsellors. I could see what it was doing to her and I had to release her. “I went upstairs and I broke down. She came up and I told her I was going to our house abroad. I packed my stuff and left. I stayed abroad for quite a while. “It felt like the first time I had actually been honest. It felt a bit like a weight had come off but I still knew I had to protect my children. “She swore she would never tell anyone and to this day she hasn’t. We are very good friends now. She is very supportive and very loyal to me. She was very upset and sad but we knew there was no going back. “I was not happy when the ­ relationship ended. It had been a security net around me. I was very sad when it ended.

But it was the first step of me starting a life as a woman.” Kellie then knew she had to take another huge step – telling her elderly mother Maureen and three daughters. She feared they would reject him and she would lose everyone she loved. She says: “I had put myself in a ­position where I had again lied to a woman who loved me and was very protective of me. It was the hardest thing in the world to come out to my family. (Photo: Sunday Mirror) “But the decision was made for me because my three daughters and my mum thought I was dying. “Eventually I had to come out. I had to tell them all about it. My desires affected my relationships. It became a burden I was carrying and I became drawn inwards.” “One daughter said to me ‘You know what Dad? I can forgive you what you are doing, but you know what I can’t forgive? I can’t forgive you for becoming famous because that has thrown light on to us.’ “She said that if I had not been famous that nobody would bother me.

I would have just slipped through the net.” Kellie, who had been raised by Irish parents in Peckham, South East London, says her mother’s love and compassion for her plight has given her strength as she looks to live the rest of her life as Kellie. Following a strict Catholic upbringing Kellie says at one time the young Frank wanted to train to be a priest – but did not enjoy time at the seminary. Frank’s father was proud of him as a boy and what he achieved as a man, but he was the one person who would never understand Kellie’s secret urges. (Photo: Action Images) She says: “One big issue against ever revealing this side of myself was my father. While he was still alive he put me on a pedestal because what I had achieved in boxing. I was too frightened to tell him. At the same time I had distanced myself from my mum and I don’t know why. In my world the last thing you wanted to be seen as was a mummy’s boy. I finally told her about wanting to be a woman because she was worried about my health.

‘I had to tell her why I was like I was.” She says the supportive reaction she got from her mum was astounding – and she even managed to crack a joke about it. Her exact words were ‘Why didn’t you come to me when you were younger? Anyway, all we had to do was change the ‘I’ to an ‘E’ in your name Francis’,” says Frank. “She told me it was time to start looking after myself and living the life I wanted to live. But she said it would have been hard for my father to accept.” Kellie had known from childhood that she was “different” to other boys and had to suppress her desire to dress as a girl. She fought a constant battle within herself. She says: “Unfortunately, from the day I was born my hormones and my body didn’t connect to my brain. I knew I was different from the moment I could compare myself to others. I never felt comfortable doing boys things, playing boys games. But I buried myself in them to make sure that I wasn’t seen as different.” The fight promoter and showman who would go on to rub shoulders with ring giants like Frank Bruno, Nigel Benn and Don King, pledged to never allow any transgender exploits to be exposed.

Kellie says: “I have met a couple of ‘girls’ who transitioned years ago. In those days they were constantly being threatened and they were beaten. I wasn’t going to put myself in that position. “Some people secretly dress up all the time but I only did it very rarely when I was younger. I did it now and again and always in private. I always wanted to be accepted in society and didn’t want to be seen as a freak. “I never bought a lot of clothes because I never wanted a wardrobe. I thought that if I did it once it would kill the urge. I was told by one helpline I contacted I should do it just every so often and that it would help me ‘get over it’. I’d throw the female clothes away after trying them on. I feared anyone finding them.” Kellie reveals it was a relief to her when top sports stars began signing lucrative deals to be the faces of a new metrosexual generation in the 1990s.

Smiling, she says: “I was pleased when David Beckham and other high profile figures started waxing and having their eyebrows done because I could do it openly.” It was a small relief during a period of her life when her image as a man at the head of a macho sport was stronger than ever. As Frank, he had started life as a boxer becoming a professional trainer in the late 1970s working with another boxing legend, Frank Warren. He later moved into management but his career began to soar after signing Lennox Lewis in 1989, a year after he won Olympic heavyweight gold in the Seoul games. Alongside the 6ft 5ins fighter, 5ft 4ins Frank was part of an unstoppable double act. But at the same time, the mental torture was destroying him. Kellie reveals: “An image was building of me being a lad about town. I was not happy in myself but I liked the image I was projecting. Mentally I was tearing myself apart. “I knew it was either continue and succeed, throw myself off a bridge or give into my urges and be ridiculed. Now Kellie has worked with therapists to overcome her fears about going public with her new identity.

She says: “Nobody has seen me for such a long time. I have been off the radar. I have not even spoken to friends. Because of my size I have been able to go out as a woman and blend in. I’ve never had any problems unlike other poor girls. I want to be sociable. “I don’t want to live a life behind doors. The trouble is even calm people, when they have had a drink, can get nasty if they are hiding fears of their own.” Her fears hark back to early days in tough South East London where a young Frank grew up as a Millwall fan. She still follows them today. Kellie says: “In my teens I read in the papers about how other transsexuals were treated. “They had been were seen as freaks and outcasts in society and I certainly didn’t want that. I saw the treatments some transsexuals were given, like electric shocks to their head, and I thought ‘nobody is doing that to me’. I knew I had to beat this my way.

Lots of these people ended up in the ‘nuthouse’.” Sat in a neat dress and stilettos, Kellie says of her new life: “This is not easy. You do not choose it. If you got 100 ­transsexual girls together I bet that most would take a pill to stop it if there was one. I know I would. “Nobody knows what we go through. I’ve had 170 hours of electrolysis. I’ve had 76,000 hairs removed from my face and I’m only about three quarters of the way there. I have to go voice coaching every week. I did not just wake up one morning and say ‘I’m going to put a dress on and become a woman.’ “Every time we leave the house we are in fear of being ‘read’ by someone who notices we are transgender. You never know how people will take it.” Most Read Most Recent

Question: After having a sex change what Christian name did Frank Maloney use?
Answer: KELLIE